The US yesterday expanded its target list in its war on terrorism by moving to freeze the assets of organisations alleged by the authorities to be funding the Hamas organisation which has claimed responsibility for the weekend's suicide attacks in Israel.
But one of the businesses raided yesterday morning, the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development angrily denounced the new edict as an attempt to smear it and denied that it was funding Hamas. "The decision by the US government to seize the charitable donations of Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan is an affront to millions of Muslim Americans who entrust charities like ours to assist in fulfilling their religious obligations," the foundation said.
"The net is closing" around those who support terrorists, President Bush said in the White House Rose Garden. "Today it just got tighter . . . Those who do business with terrorism will do no business with the US."
"With this action we go beyond the al-Qaeda network to target groups whose violent actions are designed to destroy the Middle East peace process," the Attorney General, Mr John Ashcroft, said.
Earlier the Administration issued an order shutting down four offices of the Holy Land Foundation, a group, registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a tax-exempt charity which raised $13 million last year and calls itself the largest Muslim charity in the US.
The two financial groups also targeted yesterday, both based in Palestinian-controlled territory, are Al Aqsa International Bank and the Beit El-Mal Holdings Co., an investment group. It was unclear whether either group had assets in the US, but the administration was urging allies to freeze the organisations' holdings.
The freeze had been planned for later in the month but was brought forward because of the weekend violence.
Meanwhile, the Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, was repeating the US message to the Palestinian leader, Mr Yasser Arafat. "He needs to do a lot more than we've seen so far," Mr Powell said at an OSCE conference on anti-terrorism in Bucharest. He reiterated the US recognition of Israel's right to defend itself, adding, that as the current violence escalates in "action and counter-action," both sides need to remember "sooner or later you have to find a way to move forward". In Washington, the Israeli ambassador, Mr David Ivry, said Mr Arafat must arrest terrorist suspects listed by the US. He said the Palestinians detained by the Palestinian Authority were "third echelon people".
